I personally don't care, promises are never kept, spending is always out of control, tax increases never go to what they are supposed to. It doesn't mean I won't vote, I'll vote for what and who I think is best, but the issues they present, at least in my city, they never follow through with.

- "Sometimes life smiles when it kicks you down. The trick is to smile back."

It's difficult sometimes to find information about city candidates, particularly if it isn't a major city. The local newspaper is the best bet. If there isn't one, then going to campaign events would be useful. If they don't have that, then it must be a small enough town that you can look them up in the phonebook, call them, and ask them about their positions on X.

"Just as you touch the energy of every life form you meet, so, too, will will their energy strengthen you. Fail to live up to your potential, and you will never win. " --- The Old Man at the End of Time

The quickest way is to go to each candidates' website and read their positions on various issues, and what parts of their voting record they highlight (if they're incumbents). Without any spin, you can usually tell which one you'd rather have in office just based on that. If you're really nitpicky about facts, Politifact is another source (I mean really nitpicky; they don't even like nuances and implications).

Yeah things get different when you're in office, because suddenly you have to work with a bunch of other people, make compromises, and worry about where your next election funds will come from. It's where some special interests come in (not all of which are necessarily bad--one person's advocacy group is another's special interest) and money from businesses and unions. And, folks tend to forget that congressmen make tons of decisions and have to represent people with different opinions on what should and shouldn't get done. But at the end of it all, for better or worse, most still try to represent their district. ... unless the money's too good somewhere else and they're on the way out.

By the way, there's no justification for for not voting. The less a demographic votes (like, say, young people versus the elderly, non-whites versus whites, etc.) the more they get ignored. Even if the choices rather suck, and if you gotta write-in some votes, then it's still worth the few minutes each year to do it. KF

Spoilering my own views here: Anyway, I'll say now that I'm voting straight Democratic this time. The fact that the Republican Party over the last three months has found political capital in demonizing my religion (not to mention back in 2008 the same thing happened), means that there's no justification whatsoever in voting for them--why would I ever want to vote for a group that's so biased against me? Anyway, it's not much of a shift, though, since I already rather like my Congressman, the Governor's race was last year in my state, and the local city council is mostly Democrats anyway (the only place where I would've voted Republican at one point). There.

I ended up voting mostly Democrat although I did vote for a couple local republicans.

Prop 19... aww

Since Ca is very much a D state I try to focus on the props. They are just frustrating because I feel like they are not written well. Many of the props are good ideas but they are always seem like lose lose situations.